"One must know how to fight the 'yetzer
hora' - it requires intelligence and carefully laid plans which must be carried out with
energy and determination as it says [in Mishlei 24,6] "B'tachbulos Ta'aseh L'choh
Milchomoh" - "You must fight the war with planning"
"Of course the best plan is to keep far away
from even the temptation to sin. This is accomplished through cleaving to Torah - Torah
brings to care in ones actions - Torah saves from sin."
"If however one cannot avoid going to battle,
then good planning means fighting the enemy where he is weakest rather than meeting him
head on."
"Take for instance anger. The first thing
one must do to fight anger is to impress upon himself the degradation and the harm it
brings him. If he doesn't do that he won't even have the incentive to plan how to
fight. He must therefore study deeply and seriously such passages as "If you remove
anger from your heart you will save yourself from evil" about which Chazal say "Whoever gets angry will be subject to
all types of Gehinom ["evil" refers to Gehinom]"
"Then he must study himself. He must get to
know the underlying ideas, attitudes and traits which bring him to anger and he must
refute them to himself. For instance, subconciously people imagine that if someone gets
the best of them [in an argument] or does anything to them [against their will] it will
diminish their essence - it will make them in some way "smaller." The refutation
is obvious: just the opposite is true. Those who can give up of their own, those who can
give in [when appropriate], those who can admit their errors, have a much better standing
- their words are better received."
"Anger is triggered by the unexpected. Thus if
a person prepares himself in advance for what may happen he may well be able to view the
occurence differently. He will be able to cope with it -accept it calmly"
"It helps to remember the times you gave in to
anger and were sorry later on. You may have been embarrased that you became angry, you may
have felt great pain.
"These are just some ideas. Everyone must do
his own thinking; whether it comes to fighting anger, whether it comes to fighting
laziness.. Yes, "Bitachbulos Taaseh Lechah Milchomah!" (Adapted from M. R. A.
Vol. 1 - "B'tachbulos Ta'aseh Milchomoh")
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